Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker vs Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is an action-adventure FPS game (2010) while Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is an FPS open-world game (2015).
Quick answer: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has the higher Metacritic, 91 to 89.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
What each one is
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is filed under Action-Adventure and FPS. In contrast, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain under FPS and Open-World.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is a 2010 stealth game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami. It is the seventh Metal Gear game written, directed, and designed by Hideo Kojima, and the fifth installment of the Metal Gear Solid series, as well as the fourth Metal Gear game made specifically for the PlayStation Portable, following Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. A remastered version of the game titled Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker — HD Edition was later released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection in North America and Europe and as a stand-alone retail release in Japan. The HD Edition of the game was included in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 compilation for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on August 27, 2026.
Ushering in a new era for the METAL GEAR franchise with cutting-edge technology powered by the Fox Engine, METAL GEAR SOLID V: The Phantom Pain, will provide players a first-rate gaming experience as they are offered tactical freedom to carry out open-world missions.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Peace Walker begins on November 4, 1974. Big Boss is running his own mercenary unit in Colombia after leaving the United States, following the death of The Boss during Operation Snake Eater ten years prior. A mysterious paramilitary group equipped with a startling quantity of quality weapons, called the "Peace Sentinels", has been deployed in Costa Rica . (Wikipedia)
Characters
The game's returning protagonist is Big Boss , otherwise known as Snake ( David Hayter / Akio Ōtsuka ), who is leading a new mercenary group called Militaires Sans Frontières (commonly abbreviated as MSF). He is assisted in this endeavor by MSF deputy chief Kazuhira Miller ( Robin Atkin Downes / Tomokazu Sugita ). They are eventually joined later in the game by Sandinista rebel leader Amanda Valenciano Libre ( Grey DeLisle / Romi Park ) and her younger… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker On Metacritic , the game holds a score of 89, indicating "generally favorable reviews". It was given a perfect score of 40/40 in the May 5, 2010 issue of Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu ; making it the fourteenth game to achieve a perfect score, as well as the first title for the PSP. PSM3 awarded the game 91%, commenting on the game's ability to "take the best bits from every Metal Gear Solid game – the… (Wikipedia)
Plot
Setting In the aftermath of the events of Ground Zeroes and the destruction of Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF), Big Boss ( Kiefer Sutherland / Akio Ōtsuka ) falls into a coma. Nine years later, he awakens and helps lead a new mercenary group, Diamond Dogs . Adopting the codename " Venom Snake ", he ventures into Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War and the Angola Zaire border region during the Angolan Civil War to track down the people responsible… (Wikipedia)
Characters
See also: List of characters in the Metal Gear series In contrast to previous Metal Gear installments, Kojima Productions conducted the voice acting and motion capture with English-speaking actors and stuntmen first. While facial motion capture was used before for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots , it was done separately from the actual voice acting. The Japanese voice acting was dubbed over the English cast's performance afterward, in contrast… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Critical reception Reception Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic . Reviewers considered it to be one of the best Metal Gear games. It has also been cited as one of the greatest stealth games, and one of the greatest video games of all time . (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | — | 8.2/10 |
| Steam rating | — | Very Positive (92%, 107,873) |
| Critic aggregate | 89/100 | 91/100 |
| Price | Unknown | $19.99 |
| Install size | — | 28 GB |
| Steam Deck | Untested | playable |
| Released | 2010 | 2015 |
| Developer | — | — |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker vs Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Metal Gear Solid: Peace WalkerAction-adventure FPS gameMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainFPS open-world gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Metal Gear Solid: Peace WalkerNo descriptive tagsMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainStealth, Open World, ActionThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Metal Gear Solid: Peace WalkerMetacritic 89Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ✓Metacritic 91Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker—Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain107,873 reviews · 13 add-ons · 28 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Metal Gear Solid: Peace WalkerUnknownMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain$19.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Metacritic 91)
Where they differ
StealthOpen WorldActionStory RichTacticalCinematic
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 (2GB) |
| Minimum CPU | — | Intel Core i5-4460 (3.40 GHz) |
| Minimum RAM | — | 4 GB |
| Install size | — | 28 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker · Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and 1 for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in scope?
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker lists little scope data. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has drawn 107,873 Steam reviews, ships 13 add-ons and installs in 28 GB.
Is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain?
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has the higher Metacritic, 91 to 89. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.